Life is tough on
Avenue Q. Fresh out of college and without a job, one character sings
What Do You DoWith a B.A. in English?

Others wail that
Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist and that
It Sucks To Be Me.The performers, however, are fuzzy puppets.

A
Sesame Street for grownups?

Not quite:
Avenue Q is the long-running Broadway puppet musical about young urban adults struggling
with careers, relationships and frustrations.

CATCO will launch its 2012-13 season with the 2004 Tony winner for musical, book and score. The
production, suggested for mature audiences because of adult themes and sexuality, will open Friday
in the Riffe Center’s Studio One Theatre.

“
Avenue Q represents a new kind of irreverent musical, which is why it made the splash it
did,” director Steven Anderson said.

“It pokes holes in everyone’s sacred cows, from hypocrisy to racism and political correctness.
But because they’re puppets, they can get away with things that live actors alone might not.”

Among the other songs in the show:
The InternetIsfor Porn,
If You Were Gay,
I’m Not Wearing Underwear Today,
School for Monsters,
Schadenfreude,
Purpose and
For Now.

“The issues in
Avenue Q are what everyday people deal with all the time,” actress Carmen Keels said.

“Everyone is trying to find a job or an apartment, a common theme in New York City. Even though
life is difficult, you can still rely on your friends for comfort when you need it.”

The Columbus native, who attended Otterbein University before moving to New York in 2004 and
appearing in the Broadway musical
In My Life, is making her CATCO debut as Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut.

“It’s like watching
Sesame Street but for adults,” Keels said. “But on
Sesame Street, you don’t see the actors manipulating the puppets.”

Like the other actors in the two-act show, Keels must perform and sing onstage while
manipulating a large puppet for each character.

“Kate Monster, the 30-year-old girl monster who wants to meet a nice guy, is a lot like me,”
said Keels, 35. “She’s funny and strong, and she knows who she is.”

Cody Shope, 25, plays Princeton and Rod.

“Rod has a huge heart and wants the best for everyone but doesn’t know how to treat himself. He’s
not very open,” Shope said.

“Princeton is trying to find out who he is throughout the story, and I’ve been dealing a lot
with finding my own purpose in life.

“He’s also trying to find a place to live because he has no money, and that’s how he ends up on
Avenue Q.”

For Shope, the biggest acting challenge is the puppetry — especially in the opening theme-song
scene, when he bounces back and forth between puppets.

“Since you can see both the puppet and the actor the whole time, you have to keep it real and be
equal between them onstage,” Shope said.

Keels agreed.

“As an actor, you have to consider what’s going on with your person in addition to how your
puppet is acting,” she said. “You need to have the same expressions on your faces.”

Stewart Bender, who plays the supporting roles of Kate Monster’s boss and a bad-advice Bear, is
more experienced with puppets than many actors.

“The main challenge is making sure all the focus remains on the puppet,” Bender, 38, said.
Earlier this year, he performed with a puppet in Gallery Players’
A New Brain.

He has long been a member of the troupe the Puppet Queers.

“You have to keep your puppet alive, facing out and in motion,” Bender said.

“If their back is to the audience, the audience will stop focusing on them. And if you turn it
at the wrong angle or you let it remain still onstage for even a few seconds, the puppet will
appear dead.”

Avenue Q ran half a decade on Broadway and remained popular on tour because of something
more than clever puppetry.

“There’s a great heart to
Avenue Q,” Bender said.

“As raunchy and adult as the humor gets in this cleverly written musical, at the center is a
very touching piece about young people trying to find themselves and creating a family or support
group to keep afloat.”